mechanical engineering in ancient egypt, part xii: stone ... of engineering, cairo university, egypt...

Available online at www.ijarmate.com International Journal of Advanced Research in Management, Architecture, Technology and Engineering (IJARMATE) Vol. 2, Issue 4, April 2016.

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Mechanical Engineering in Ancient Egypt, Part XII:

Stone Cutting Galal Ali Hassaan

Emeritus Professor, Department of Mechanical design & Production,

Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt

[email protected]

Abstract— This paper presents the 12th part of a series of

research papers aiming at studying the development of

mechanical engineering in ancient Egypt. It presents the

techniques and technology used by ancient Egyptians to cut

hard stones and produce very complex artifacts. The ancient

Egyptians used stone saws, drills and lathe turning and invented

instrumentation to generate flat surfaces with accuracy better

than 0.005 mm and measure dimensions from 1.3 mm to 10 km.

Index Terms— Mechanical engineering in ancient Egypt,

stone cutting, stone sawing. drilling and turning, stone surface

flattening, filleting of stone mating surfaces, dimensions

measurement.

I. INTRODUCTION

Ancient Egyptians had the technology and highly qualified

man-power to cut hard stones as they cut a piece of cheese.

They could do this from thousands of years ago while

nowadays people with the facilities of the 21st century are

unable to achieve what they achieved with their primitive

tools. In this research paper in this series about the mechanical

engineering in ancient Egypt, we try to understand how they

could hard rocks like granite and produce very heavy

products.

Gorelick and Gwinnett (1983) studied the drilling process

of stone in ancient Egypt. They started their article saying that

neither wall paintings, nor textual information , nor excavated

material has provided complete answers as to how drilling

was done !!. They presented the words of F. Petrie and A.

Locus in this aspect. They concluded that a functional

analysis of the drilling of a granite sarcophagus lid from the

old kingdom has produced some preliminary insights into the

speculative technology used and set the procedure used by

ancient Egyptians to drill hard rocks using abrasives or a

lubricant such as olive oil [1]. Klemm and Klemm (2001)

discussed the petrography, occurrence and main applications

of the eleven most popular stone types used in ancient Egypt.

They referred to the 42 m length obelisk south of Aswan and

how it was cut out of the rock on three sides using stone tools

[2]. Nishimoto, Yoshimura and Kondo (2002) stated that

large stone blocks appear to have been extracted from quarry

at Qurna during the rein of Amenhotep III for his temple in

Western Thebes. They feel that the hieratic inscriptions they

presented are the first recorded quantifying the successive

daily work output of building activity during the rein of

Amenhotep III [3]. Lavigne (2006) stated that the ancient

Egyptians had very high level of knowledge about working

out and geometry. The purpose of her study was to understand

the technical methods used throughout the Egyptian history

giving more care to collect more information about tools and

tool marks [4].

Storemyr et. al. (2007) presented the quarry landscapes

project for addressing the importance of ancient quarry

landscapes and raising the awareness for the urgent need for

protecting such sites. Their work analyzed the condition and

legal status of the known ancient quarries in Egypt and the

threats facing them [5]. Loggia (2009) analyzed 17 tombs at

Saqqara from the first dynasty and 25 tomb from Helwan from

the first and second dynasties. She mentioned the robustness

of walls construction standing up over a given height and

length. She stated also that the design of roofs showed that the

ancient Egyptians constructed them with a thorough

understanding of stone and temper materials behavior under

imposed loads [6]. Saraydar (2012) discussed the Egyptian

drilling/boring device dated to the third dynasty. He

demonstrated a flint and wood replica of the Egyptian drill

capable of rapid unidirectional rotation and effective in

drilling two types of stone, limestone and alabaster. He

showed that when the drill fitted with crescent-shaped bit, the

drill operated with one hand with minimum effort [7].

Ayad (2014) presented a study of the drilling tools and

stone vessels fragments of Heit el-Ghurab during the rein of

Kings Khafre and Mankaure. He compared the finds with

similar parallels of the same time period [8]. Heldal and

Storymer (2015) presented features found in five Egyptian

quarries and discussed them on a background of rock

properties and quarrying techniques. They suggested that the

use of fire in stone quarrying reached a highly sophisticated

level during the New Kingdom [9].

II. CUTTING QUARRY STONES

The ancient Egyptians cut quarry stones in an optimal way

leading to preserving stones and using them in their great

projects such as pyramids, temples and tombs. Before talking

about tools using in stone cutting, I present some samples of

stone cutting from different periods in the ancient Egypt

history.

- Fig.1 shows rectangular marks in Aswan granite quarry

[10]. The mountain face is almost vertical and the two



rectangular holes are identical and exact.

Fig.1 Quarry mark at Aswan [10].

- Fig.2 shows a contoured cut granite block from Giza

Plateau in the open south of the Great Pyramid [11].

The block has a cylindrical contour at a part of its

outside surface which is very accurate without

distortion. Mr. Dunn announced that on checking the

accuracy of the contoured surface, he found that the

surface was extremely precise [11].

Fig.2 Contoured granite block [11].

- Fig.3 shows how old Egyptians applied the filleting

design technique to granite blocks [11]. A vertical flat

surface is met with a cylindrical part of a granite block.

They filleted the mating surface in a very precise way.

Mr. Dunn measured the radius of the fillet in many

location and found it 11.1 mm [11].

Fig.3 Filleting corners of granite mating

surfaces [11].

- Fig.4 shows a saw cut of a basalt block located in the east

of the Great Pyramid at Giza [12]. The accuracy of the

cut makes one imagine that even though the basalt is a

hard rock [13], they are cutting it as if it is a block of

wood.

Fig.4 Cutting basalt block [12].

- Fig.5 shows how basalt was cut in the east side of the

Great pyramid using a large diameter circular saw [12].

The face is exactly flat

Fig.5 Cutting basalt by circular saw [12].

- Fig.6 shows straight cuts of the hard rock basalt using a

rock saw in the basalt paving stones of the Great

Pyramid at Giza [14]. The cuts are straight, clean with

smooth with parallel sides without traces of walking or

wobbling [14].

Fig.6 Straight cuts of basalt using stone saw [14].

- Fig.7 shows the casing granite stones of the Menkaure's

Pyramid at Giza [15]. They are cut from Aswan quarry

and transferred to the pyramid site at Giza. Looking at

the stone blocks we can see and feel how they are

accurately cut. They have three distinct geometrical

shapes: rectangle, trapezoid and semi-trapezoid. They

have almost the same height such that one can imagine

that they adjusted them using laser beam !!. The gap

between the blocks is uniform and has relatively small

value indicating the accuracy of the cutting and

finishing of the mating surfaces.



Fig.7 Casing stones of Menkaure's Pyramid [15].

Those great people could cut hard rocks producing very

accurate smooth surfaces with tools designed specially for

this purpose from more than 4500 years ago. Just to weigh

their outstanding achievements in this aspect we compare we

present sample of stone cutting in the 21st century at Egypt

also.

- Fig.8 shows a recent highway cut in an Egyptian

limestone site. It is clear how the cut with the modern

facilities is rough and uneven.

Fig.8 Highway cut in a limestone site [16].

- Fig.9 shown another model of a way cut in a hard rock

site [17]. The quality of the cut is very clear from the

photo of Fig.9 and depicts the greatness of the old

Egyptians.

Fig.9 Road cut in a hard rock site [17].

III. STONE DRILLING

The production of stone vessels requires special drills to

remove stone materials efficiently with accurate dimensions.

From engineering point of view, this is not an easy task since

rocks differ in hardness from type to another. First of all, we

will answer the question: Have the ancient Egyptians known

stone drills ?. The answer is 'yes' which is proved through the

following scenes:

- Fig.10 shows a wall engraved scene from a tomb in

Saqqara from the Late Old Kingdom [7]. The drilling

operation in this process is performed through two

actions. A rotational action of the drilling tool

performed by a crank in the hand of the labor, and an

axial force performed by tow counterweights located

symmetrically around the vertical centerline of the

drill. This design in this very early stage (2613 – 2494

BC) is an excellent engineering design and application

since it reduces the effort of the labor and allows the

application of large forces outside the capability of the

human being.

Fig.10 Hole drilling in the 4th Dynasty [7].

- Fig.11 shows two labors working in a stone ware

workshop from the Old Kingdom [7]. The two labors

are performing the drilling process while they are

setting down. The setting style differs from one labor

to the others. The common features are having a

straight back to avoid any harm effects on their backs.

The left labor is boring a large stone bowl holding the

drill shaft by his left hand and rotating the drill crank

by his right hand.

Fig.11 Stone drilling in a stone ware workshop [7].

The right labor is drilling a tall stone vase. He is holding the

vase with his right hand and rotating the drill by his left hand.

Both are using counterweights to generate the required axial

forces.

- Fig.12 shows some details of the boring drill shown in

Fig.10 and 11 [18]. It consists of driving shaft a,

crankshaft d, forcing weights e secured to the driving

shaft by a robe, fork b and cutting bit c [18]. This

design is capable of hollowing up vessels of variable

inside diameter through changing the cutting bit size.



Fig.12 Details of the boring drill [18].

- Fig.13 shows a modified boring drill for the design of

Fig.12 applied in the 18th

dynasty of the New Kingdom

as depicted in the tomb of Rikh-mi-Re at Thebes [19].

Fig.13 Modified boring drill at the 18th

dynasty [19].

- The cutting tip of the boring drill took different shapes.

Fig.14 (a) shows an 8-shape quartzite boring tip from

the 1st dynasty fount at Abydos and Fig.14 (b) shows a

crescent flint from the Old Kingdom [20].

(b) (a)

Fig.14 Boring bits from 1st dynasty and Old Kingdom [20].

- They designed boring drills for settling labors (short-

shaft drill) and boring drills for standing labors

(long-shaft drill) as illustrated in Fig.15 [21].

(a) Short-shaft boring drill (b) Long-shaft boring

(18th

dynasty) drill (26th

dynasty)

Fig.15 Short and long-boring drills [21].

Another type of stone drills used in boring holes is the

tube drill. How did archaeologists known his. Artifacts left by

ancient Egyptians in tombs and operation sites strengthen this

engineering fact. This conclusion is realized from the

following findings:

- Fig.16 shows an unfinished 70 mm travertine stone

vessel located in Petrie Museum and marked with red

paint for coring with drill, possibly from the 6th

dynasty [22]. This is a real good mechanical

engineering methodology since marking the hole leads

to accurate positioning of the vessel interior.

Fig.16 Marking the hole for drilling [22].

- The hole is drilled using a tube drill producing a

cylindrical core as shown in the unfinished vase from

the 4th dynasty located in Petrie Museum and shown in

Fig.17 [22].

Fig.17 Hole drilled by a tube drill [22].

- The ancient Egyptians invented the tube drill to produce

stone tubes and generate vessel internal cylindrical

holes. Fig.18 (a) shows a granite core cut by a tube

drill in the 4th

dynasty and located in Petrie Museum

[22]. In Fig.18 (b) a basalt tube is cut by a tube drill in

the 4th dynasty and located in Petrie Museum [22]. The

thickness of the tube is not uniforms meaning that the

cut was performed with certain eccentricity.



(a) Granite core cut by a tube drill

(b) Basalt tube cut by a tube drill.

Fig.18 Core and rube cut in the 4th

dynasty [22].

- The tube drill of the ancient Egyptians is reconstructed

by Denys Stocks in 1993 using a cupper tube cutting

bit and a driving bow as shown in Fig.19 [23].

Fig.19 Tube drill constructed by Stocks [23].

- Another model of the stone tube drill was constructed by

Stock based on using the copper tube bit and forced by

two forcing weights as shown in Fig.20 [24]. It gains

its rotational motion using a crank connected to the

driving shaft as in the boring drill of Fig.12.

Fig.20 Dead-weights forced tube drill [24].

- The procedure for producing a stone vessel is shown in

Fig.21 [22]. The external surface is generated using

copper chisels for soft stones or hard stone bounders

for hard rocks (stage 1 in Fig.21). The vessel hole

location at the neck is marked as shown in Fig.16.

Tube drill with increasing copper tube bits is used to

generate the internal bore of minimum diameter

required by the vessel design (steps 2 and 3). Now a

straight bore is cut in the vessel and the cores are

removed (step 4). Now, the weight-forced boring drill

of Fig 12 of increasing bit length to produce the

internal cavity of the vessel (steps 5 to 8).

Fig.21 Procedure for producing a stone vessel [22].

- A model of stone vessels produced by the above

technique is shown in Fig.22 from the Middle Kingtom

found in one of the pyramids in Mazghuneh and its

cross-section is located in the Manchester Museum

[22].

Fig.22 Stone vessel produced by drilling [22].

IV. STONE SAWING

Physical evidences indicate that the ancient Egyptians

have used the saw in cutting hard stones. Samples of those

evidences are as follows:

- Fig.23 shows a basalt stone in the paving layer in the east

of the Great pyramid of the 4th dynasty [22]. The cut is

clean, straight and perfect.



Fig.23 Paving basalt stone near the Great Pyramid [22].

- Petrie, the famous archaeological professor of

University College London stated that the builders of

Giza pyramids had a sophisticated set of tools at their

disposal [23]. Fig.24 shows a fine saw cut of basalt

stone using a copper saw [23]. The cuts are perfect and

surprising. This a hard stone saw cut. How great were

those ancient Egyptians !!.

Fig.24 Basalt saw cutting [23].

- Another important application on stone sawing is from

the Great Pyramid at Giza. Fig.25 shows the granite

sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid at Giza which has 2.278

m length [24]. This lengthy granite box was cut by a stone

saw [14]. William Petrie set the stone saw dimensions of

the ancient Egyptians as thickness in the range 0.762 mm to

5.08 mm and length up to 2.438 m [25].

Fig.25 Granite coffer in the Great Pyramid [24].

- The last example is a granite box in the rock tunnels at

the temple of the Serapeum at Saqqara. It is shown in

Fig.26 as drawn by engineer Christopher Dunn [26].

Fig.26 Granite block in the Serapeum temple [26].

This giant box has the dimensions of 3.96 m length x 3.35

m height x 2.286 m width and its mass is 90 ton of granite

(body and lid) [26]. Engineer C. Dunn wrote the following

comments of the Serapeum granite boxes [27]:

o They are 20 boxes.

o They were quarried at Aswan over 500 miles

away and installed in arched crypts recessed

into the walls of the labyrinth of underground

tunnels.

o Surface was exactly flat as measured by a

precision straight edge of accuracy to 0.005

mm.

o All the corners of the base are filleted.

o The inside surfaces are flat vertically and

horizontally.

o The surfaces are square and parallel to each

other.

o Inside surfaces have high degree of accuracy

compared to surfaces of plates in modern

manufacturing facilities !.

o Higher levels of technology were used by the

ancient Egyptians.

- What is interesting about the level of technology gained

by ancient Egyptians is the thinking of Engineer C.

Dunn to re-manufacture the Serapeum granite box in

one of the modern stone workshops in USA. He

discussed with Mr. E. Leither of Tru-Stone

Corporation the technical feasibility of creating

several artifacts including the granite box in the

Serapeum Temple at Saqqara. Mr. Leither final last

comments were as follows [28]:

"My company did not have the equipment and capabilities to

produces the boxes in this manner. My company would create

the box in 5 pieces, ship them to the customer and bolt them

on site".

V. STONE LATHE TURNING

It is well known that the ancient Egyptians used a



woodturning lathe and recorded this in a tomb relief in the 3rd

century BD [29]. However, stone (specially hard stones) is

completely different than wood (soft material). Now, we will

discuss the evidences of using the ancient Egyptians the

technology of lathe turning in producing stone artifacts.

- The archaeologist W. Petrie commented that the lathe

appears to have been as familiar an instrument in the

fourth dynasty, as it is in the modern workshops. The

diorite bowls and vases of the Old Kingdom are

frequently met with, and show great technical skill.

One piece found at Gizeh, shows that the method

employed was true turning [30].

- The technologist C. Dunn wrote that while browsing

through the Cairo Museum, he found evidence of lathe

turning on a large scale. A sarcophagus lid had

distinctive marks of lathe turning [31].

- In the Cairo museum and in other museums around the

world there are examples of stone ware that were

found in and around the step pyramid at Saqqara (built

by King Zoser of the 3rd

dynasty). Fig.27 shows one of

those stone ware produced by lathe turning. It shows

the unmistakable tool marks of a lathe manufactured

item [32]. It is a multi-cavity stone plate located at the

Egyptian Museum. It has a complex design and

required relatively high level mechanical technology

to produce without breaking the stone flanges

bounding the cavities.

Fig.27 Stone plate from the 3rd

dynasty [32].

VI. MISCLANEOUS TOOLS

Besides the main tools discussed (drills, saws and lathes),

they some other miscellaneous tools in their stoneware

manufacturing. Here are some of those tools:

- Chisels: They used chisels to cope with soft stones such

as limestone. Fig.28 shows a scene in the tomb of

Ankmahor in Saqqara dated to the First Intermediate

Period for carvers producing a statue using chisels and

mallets [33]. Large number of actual ancient Egypt

chisels are available in the world museums. Fig.29

shows two chisels one from the Old Kingdom (a) and

one from the Middle Kingdom (b) [34]. Both are

located in Petrie Museum. The design in Fig.28 (a) has

a sharp tip suitable for producing holes or engravings

in the stone block. The design in Fig.28 (b) has a flat

tip suitable for flattening surfaces of producing flat

surfaces.

Fig.28 Carvers using chisels and mallets [33].

(a) Old Kingdom chisel. (b) Middle Kingdom chisel.

Fig.29 Chisels from Old and Middle Kingdoms [34].

Another chisel designs are shown in Fig.30 from the New

Kingdom which are located in Petrie Museum [34]. Both

have flat tip. The design in (b) has a tip as wide as about 175

% of the average stem diameter. This increases the efficiency

of the chisel during the flattening process of the soft rock.

(a) (b)

Fig.30 Chisels from the New Kingdom [34].

- Mallets: The old Egyptians used mallets in conjunction

with chisels to generate soft stone surfaces. A mallet is

a hammer-like tool with a head commonly of wood

[35]. Fig.31 shows one of the designs of the mallets

from the Old Kingdom of Egypt [36]. The hitting

surface is irregular to prevent slipping over the chisel

during hitting. There are two depressions on the hitting

surface plus number of small halls. Its handle takes a

conical shape for better security in the labor's hand.



Fig.31 Mallet from the Old Kingdom [36].

Another mallet design from the 18th

dynasty of the

New Kingdom is shown in Fig.32 [37]. It has one

depression all-over the circumference. Its handle is smooth

and completely cylindrical. The body is rough to prevent

slipping over the chisel head.

Fig.32 Mallet from the New Kingdom [37].

- Stone hammers: They used stone hammers to deal with

hard rocks as depicted from the scene shown in Fig.33

for two sculptors dressing a statue [37]. Fig.34 shows

an actual complete stone hammer located in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art and returns to the age of

King Amenemhat I (the 1st King of the 12th dynasty)

[36].

Fig.33 Stone hammer in use [37].

Fig.34 Stone hammer from the rein of Amenemhat I [36].

- Stone pounders: A pounder is a heavy tool of stone or

iron that is used to grind and mix material against a

slab of stone [38]. They used stone pounders to polish

stoneware as depicted from the scene shown in Fig.35

from the tomb of Vizier Rekhmire' at Thebes during

the 18th

dynasty [22]. There are three sculptors doing

the job under the supervision of a foreman. This one of

the reasons of their success in performing works

looking as miracles.

Fig.35 Stone polishing using pounders [22].

Fig.36 shows two stone pounders, one from the first

dynasty in (a) located in the Heckscher Museum of Art of

NY and manufactured from pink breccias and has a flat

base and smooth spherical body[39]. The other pounder in

(b) is from the Old Kingdom and exhibited in Michael

Carlos Museum [40]. It has a flat base and a hemispherical

body to ease holding it by hands without harming the

labors.

(a) From the 1st dynasty [39]. (b) From the Old Kingdom

[40].

Fig.36 Granite hammers

- Geometrical measurements and adjustment: The

ancient Egyptians were able to measure and adjust

accurately dimensions through some primitive

instruments. They used measurement scales for the

river line level from the rein of King Djer (the 3rd

King

of the first dynasty). They used the royal cubit from the

era of the Old Kingdom during the rein of King Zoser

(the founder of the 3rd dynasty) [41]. Those generous

people designed and used scales for measuring linear

dimensions from few mms to as long as 10 km [42].

Fig.37 shows a typical ancient Egyptian cubit located



in the Petrie Museum [42]. Another wonderful royal

cubit model displaced in the Louvre Museum of Paris

is shown in Fig.38 [43]. It has 7 large divisions, each

divided into 4 subdivisions, each divided into 14

divisions. With the royal cubit length of 523 mm, the

resolution of this cubit is 1.33 mm.

Fig.37 Ancient Egyptian cubit [42].

Fig.37 Royal cubit at Louvre Museum [43].

Furthermore, they have designed set squares and plumps

to adjust corners , horizontal and vertical surfaces. Fig.38

shows a set of such instrumentation from the tomb of

Sennedjem the high official responsible for the excavation

and decoration of the nearby royal tombs in the reins of Seti I

and Ramsis II of the 19th dynasty [44], [45]. (a) is a set square

graduated from both sides. It adjusts exactly a 90 degrees

angle and measures distance in two perpendicular directions.

(b) is a set square – plump for adjusting horizontal surfaces. (c)

is a plump for adjusting vertical surfaces.

(a) (b) (c)

Fig.38 Adjusting corners and surfaces in the 19th

dynasty [44].

Regarding mating surfaces with angles other than the 90

degrees, the architect Kha, who was the overseer of works in

Deir El-Medina in the mid- 18th dynasty during the rein

of Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III [46]

invented a protractor found in his tomb. The protractor is

shown in Fig.39 as displayed in the Egyptian Museum at

Torino of Italy[47] .

Fig.39 Protractor of architect Kha of the 18th dynasty [47].

Another important tool used in adjusting the flatness of

stone surfaces is the boning rods. Its use is authorized by a

scene from the tomb of Rekhmire, the vizier of Pharaoh

Thotmose III of the 18th dynasty shown in Fig.40 [36]. A

typical boning rods device located in the Metropolitan

Museum of Art of NY found in the Hatshepsut temple at Deir

el-Bahari (18th

dynasty) is shown in Fig.41 [36]..

Fig.40 Sculptors working with boning rods [36].

Fig.41 Boning rods from the 18th

dynasty [36].

VII. CONCLUSION

- The paper tried to trace some features of stone cutting

processes in ancient Egypt.

- It presented samples of ancient Egyptian cutting of

granite and basalt hard stones.

- It discussed the ability of ancient Egyptians to

produce accurately contoured granite blocks.

- It presented samples of producing corner filleting of

stone mating surfaces of hard stones.



- They used sawing, drilling and lathe turning

processing to cut hard stones.

- They invented two types of stone drilling equipment,

one for hole and the other for tube stone cutting

starting from the Old Kingdom.

- They used stone saws of length up to 2.4 m and

thickness up to 5.1 mm.

- They could cut granite boxes up to 90 ton mass and

3.96 m length having surface flatness better than

0.005 mm located in the Serapeum of Saqqara.

- An American stone corporation announced that it did

not have the equipment and capability to produce the

Saqqara granite boxes.

- They used stone turning machines to produce very

complex stoneware.

- They used scales for dimensions measurement since

the 3rd

dynasty. They could design dimension

measurement devices to measure dimensions from

1.3 mm to 10 km.

- They invented instruments to measure and adjust right

and other angles and adjust flatness of surfaces in

both horizontal and vertical directions.

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SumPfLAhWLWxQKHaP-AOYQyjcIXw&ei=KIYDV8XmFIu

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BIOGRAPHY

Galal Ali Hassaan:

• Emeritus Professor of System Dynamics and

Automatic Control.

• Has got his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Cairo University in

1970 and 1974.

• Has got his Ph.D. in 1979 from Bradford University,

UK under the supervision of Late Prof. John

Parnaby.

• Now with the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo

University, EGYPT.

• Research on Automatic Control, Mechanical

Vibrations , Mechanism Synthesis and History of

Mechanical Engineering.

• Published more than 170 research papers in

international journals and conferences.

• Author of books on Experimental Systems Control,

Experimental Vibrations and Evolution of

Mechanical Engineering.

• Chief Justice of International Journal of Computer

Techniques.

• Member of the Editorial Board of a number of

International Journals including IJARMATE.

• Reviewer in some international journals.

• Scholars interested in the author's publications can

visit:

http://scholar.cu.edu.eg/galal

mechanical engineering in ancient egypt, part xii: stone ... of engineering, cairo university, egypt...

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